Control apparatus



March 8, 1945!z c. W. Kw@

CONTROL. APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, w44

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Patented Mar. 8, 1949 CONTROL APPARATUS Charles W. Klug, Chicago, lll., assignor to Stewart-Warner Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Virginia Applicaiion December 14, 1944, Serial No. 568,183

3 Claims. 1

My invention relates generally to control apparatus, and more particularly to temperature responsive apparatus for the control o heaters.

In utilizing liquid fuel burning heaters, particularly those of the internal combustion type for the heating of an enclosed space, it is desirable vto provide means for modulating the fuel supply to the heater in response to the temperature of the air in the space being heated. By modulating the fuel supply rather than having the heater turned on and off intermittently, a more uniform temperature may be maintained. However, a modulating system of conventional construction is not adapted for control of heaters of the internal combustion type, since it is desirable that upon starting heaters of this type, the fuel-air mixture shall be relatively rich in order to assure prompt ignition.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide an improved control apparatus for liquid fuel burning heaters, particularly of the internal combustion type, in which the rate of fuel supply is modulated in response to changes in temperature the valve body through the metering notch 28 of the space being heated, and in which provision l is made for assuring an adequately rich fuel-air mixture for the heater during starting.

It isa further object of my invention to provide an improved fuel iiow regulating valve mechanism which is capable also of controlling the electrical energization of the heater.

Other objects will appear from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing which diagrammatically illustrates the control apparatus having a schematic wiring diagram superposed thereon.

The heater is diagrammatically illustrated as comprising a casing I0 having a Ventilating air inlet duct l2, a. fuel supply pipe I4, and an electric terminal IB.

Fuel for the operation of the heater is obtained from a suitable source under pressure through a pipe I8, the flow through this pipe being controlled by an on-oif solenoid valve 20, the valve being so arranged that it is open while current is being supplied to its solenoid and closed by spring pressure when the current supply is cut off. The pipe I8 is suitably connected to a valve body 22 having a cylindrical bore 24 for the reception of a cylindrical plunger valve 26. The wall of the valve body 22 is provided with a V- shaped metering notch 28 which is more or less covered by the cylindrical valve 26. A flexible resilient bellows 30 forms a seal between the valve body 22 and the cylindrical valve 26. The fuel admitted through the pipe I8 and escaping from flows into the body of the bellows and thence to the heater through the pipe i4 which is suitably connected to the interior of the bellows 3u,

The valve body 22 is suitably secured to a mounting plate 32. A bracket 34, having a nut 35 swaged thereto, is secured to the mounting plate 32. An adjusting screw 38 having s. knob 30 is threaded in the nut 35 and is secured to one end plate of a temperature responsive bellows 42. This bellows may be partially iilled with propane or similar chemical.

The other end plate 44 of the bellows 42 has an internally threaded boss 45 formed integrally therewith, or secured thereto, for the reception of an adjusting screw 48, which is held in adjusted position by a lock nut 5t. The nut 5t and the head 52 of the screw t8 form adjustable actuators for a reed-like contact armature 54, the lower end of which is secured to the mounting plate by a bracket 58. rIhe adjusting screw 52 is preferably drilled to receive the end 58 of the cylindrical valve 26, an anti-friction bearing 68 being preferably interposed between the end of the stem 5t andthe bottom o the drilled hole in the adjusting screw 48 so that upon rotation of the adjustment knob 40, the bellows 42 together with the adjusting screw 48, may be rotated freely relative to the stem 58. In lieu of this arrangement, the end 58 may be fixed to the screw 48, and the` connection between the screw 38 and the bellows 42 made to act as a swivel,

The armature 54 has a contact 62 for cooperation with a iixed contact 64 which is secured to the mounting plate 32 by an insulating bracket A66. A pair of horseshoe magnets 68 and 69 is adjustably mounted on the mounting plate 32 by means of brackets 'l0 so as to have their poles lie on opposite sides of the armature 54. In order to prevent the armature from flexing and freezing against the poles of the permanent magnets 68 and 69, there is provided a pair of stop discs 12, 13, which are eccentrically mounted so that adjustment in the effective stop positions thereof may be made.

Assuming a heater I0 of given capacity, it is desirable to have the fuel combustion rate variable between 250 milliliters per hour and 2000 milliliters per hour. Since the heater -Ill may fail to operate properly when supplied with fuel ata rate lower than 250 milliliters per hour, it is desirable completely to shut off the heater when the ambient or room temperature rises to values such that the valve 26 reduces the flow to a rate of less than 250 milliliters per hour. This is accomplished by means oi the solenoid valve 2Q, as will presently appear.

The position of the temperatureresponsive bellows 42 is adjusted by means of the knob tu such that the heater will be turned oi at any desired room temperature between 60 F. and 90 F. Assume, for example, that the lrnobdll is adjusted for a room temperature ci 70 F. in the space be-l ing heated by the heater lll, and that the ambi@ ent temperature is 65 F.' Under these circuncstances, the parts will be generally in the posi tion shown in the drawing, and a substantial portion of the notch 2li in the valve body .422 Will be uncovered by the cylindrical valve 2li. rThe contacts di, lill will be closed, the solenoid valve til energized, and current supplied to the heater l@ to maintain it in operation. As the heater raises the room temperature, the bellows d2 will expand, forcing the cylindrical valve to the right and decreasing the eiective size of the notched opening The notched opening 2u is of triangular shape to compensate for the non-linear characteristic of the bellows :'32, as well as for the fact that the bellows offers increased. resistance to compression es it is collapsed. As the temperature oi 'lll F. is approached, the effective area of the notched opening 2d will be decreased to a sizeysuch that the rate of fuel ovv therethrough will be in the order of 250 millillters per hour. At this time further expansion ci? the bellows l2 will be ar rested by the engagement ci loclr nut lill with the reed armature 5d. if it were not for the operation of the switch means, presently to be described, and it the ambient temperature continued to rise above 7i F., it is apparent that the now of fuel to the heater might be reduced to such low value that the operation of the heater would become erratic and would in all probability have its name extinguished, due to the extreme leanness of the fuel mixture supplied to it.

To avoid this possibility, the magnet til, due to the attraction of the end oi the armature @il thereto stops further closing movement of the valve 26 until the pressure within the bellows (l2 has increased sufficiently to overcome the magnetic attraction of the permanent magnet 65d. Adjustments are made so that this will occur when the ambient temperature is at "il F., under the conditions initially assumed. When the reed armature 5t is forced from the immediate eld of the permanent magnet i523, it will snap over into the position in which it engages stop i3 and is held in the strong held of the permanent magnet Si?, thereby opening the contacts E32 and tit to deenerglze the solenoid valve 2li.

The circuit for energizing the solenoid valve may be traced from the ungrounded terminal of a battery it (representative oi any suitable source of electrical energy), the reed armature 5d, con tacts 62, 6d, conductor llt, through the Winding of the valve solenoid 2li to ground. The conductor i8 is also connected to the heater l@ to supply electrical energy for the operation of the latter, and it Will be apparent from the wiring diagram that the heater lil is deenergized simul taneously with the deenergization of the solenoid valve 2G. As soon as the contacts t2, @t separate, the solenoid valve 2u closes, thus shutting oi the supply of .fuel to the heater lll. Thus, even though the ambient temperature should rise above 7l F., the supply of fuel to the heater would be completely interrupted, the heater circuits de energized, and hence the heater would be rendered inoperative.

.Upon reduction in ambient temperature, the head 52 of the adjusting screw 48 is arranged to engage the reed armature 54, but due to the magnetic attraction of the permanent magnet 69, the armature 54 will not immediately swing to the left, but the ambient temperature will have to drop to a value (under the assumed conditions) of 69 F., before the force applied to the armature 5t will be suicient to overcome the magnetic attraction of the permanent magnet 69 to permit the armature to snap over to the position in which it is shown in the drawing, in which position it will be held by the magnetic attraction of the permanent magnet (5d. This arrangement assures that the uncovered portion of the triangular notch 223 will be sufilciently large, at all times When the solenoid valve it@ is open, to as-u sure the .supply of a suiclently rich iuel mixture to the heater lll to enable the latte: to ignite promptly and burn continuously.

From the ioregong it will appear that I have devised a novel form of control apparatus for heaters and the like, in which the supply of iuei to the heater is so controlled that a certain miniw mum rate or fuel flow is maintained whenever the room temperature is such as to require heatrorn the heater. Further, it will be apparent that as the ambient temperature decreases from the predetermined temperature for which the apparatus has been adjusted, the fue] will not commence to how immediately, but that the com= mencement oi fuel iiow will be deferred until the modulating control valve has opened sublclently to assure an adequate supply oi fuel for starting the heater.

ln the foregoing description, it has been asn sumed that the fuel burned by the heater is in liquid form; This is not essential, since the apparatus may be readily used ior the control of gaseous fuels as well as liquid fuels.

In most installations the control will seldom operate to open the contacts lill, but instead the valve 2li will be automatically adjusted to a position in which the heat output of the heater will be just suilcient to compensate for the heat losses from the room or space being heated.

If desired the valve port 2li could be made of a shape which would cause it to .be completely covered by the valve 2t after the latter has snapped to the right due to the rise of the ambient temperature above the predetermined high limit. lf the valve is made to operate in this manner, the solenoid valve 2li may be omitted.

While I have shown and described particular embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent that numerous variations and modications thereof may be made without departing from the underlying principles of theinvention. l therefore desire, by the following claims, to include within the scope of my invention all such variations and modications by which substantially the results of my invention may be obtained through the use of substantially the same or equivalent means.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for controlling the flow of fuel to a fuel burning heater, the combination of a temperature responsive bellows located in the space heated by the heater, a variable aperture valve operated. by said bellows and controlling the rate of fuel lowto the heater, anon-oil electromagnetically operated valve for controlling the fuel flow to the heater, a switch element having apart of magnetic material forming an armature, a pair of permanent magnets located on opposite sides of said armature. means to prevent said armature from sticking to said magnets, interengaging means between said switch element, variable aperture valve and said temperature responsive bellows whereby the latter may move the armature of the switch element from the dense ileld of one of said magnets and into the dense field of the otherl of said magnets when a predetermined temperature is exceeded, said interengaging means arresting operation of said valve in a closing direction at minimum valve opening when the predetermined temperature is approached, and means operated by said switch element to cause deenergization of said solenoid operated valve and heater when a predetermined temperature is exceeded, and to cause reenergization of said solenoid valve and heater only when the ambient air temperature drops substantially below said predetermined temperature.

2. In an apparatus for controlling the flow of fuel to a fuel burning heater, the combination of a temperature responsive bellows located in the space heated by the heater, a variable aperture valve operated by said bellows and controlling the rate of fuel flow to the heater, an on-oi! electromagnetically operated valve for controlling the fuel now to the heater, a switch element having a part of magnetic material forming an armature, a pair of permanent magnets located on opposite sides of said armature, lost motion interengaging means between said switch element, variable aperture valve and said tempera ture responsive bellows whereby the latter may move the armature of the switch element from the dense field of one of said magnets and into the dense field of the other of said magnets when a predetermined temperature is exceeded, said interengaging means arresting operation of said valve in a closing direction at minimum valve opening when the predetermined temperature is approached, and means controlled by said switch element to cause deenergization of said solenoid operated valve and heater when the predeterenergization of said solenoid valve and heater only when the ambient air temperature drops below said predetermined temperaof fuel flow through said supply line, a device mined tempel-shire is exceeded and to cause re- 5 responsive to the temperature of the space to be heated and connectedto said modulating valve for gradually decreasing the rate of fuel flow as the ambient temperature in the space being heated increases, means operated by said temperature responsive device to cause deenergization of said solenoid valve when a predetermined temperature is exceeded and to cause energization of said valve only after a temperature substantially lower than said predetermined temperature is attained, said last named means including a two position switch in circuit with the solenoid of the solenoid operated valve operated by said temperature responsive device, and means fox` yieldingly holding the switch in either of its two positions, said switch arresting operation of said modulating valve in a closing direction as the predetermined temperature is approached.

' CHARLES w. KLUG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

